“A little,” Hannah admitted, “but I don’t miss him half as much as I missed the three of you.”
“It’s okay,” Marco murmured after a while, “if you meet someone, I mean.”
Hannah had stroked his hair. “Thanks, sweetheart.”
Not long afterwards, they’d fallen asleep.
And now it was barely seven in the morning in the middle of vacation, and someone was ringing up a storm. Hannah made her way to the door, half asleep.
“Who is it?” She peered through the peephole and yawned.
“‘It’s me, Hannah! Open the door!”
Hannah rolled her eyes. Frieda! This early? Some things never changed.
“Just a minute.” She opened the door and stuck out her head. “Shhh, the little kids are still asleep!”
“Well, then it’s time they got up! The early bird catches the worm!”
“We were up late.”
“Hogwash! I have a surprise for you! Wake the children, and I’ll tell you all about it.”
And Frieda was already shoving her way past her and into the living room. Hannah wondered if she shouldn’t simply offer her a room of her own in their apartment.
Yawning, Hannah shuffled into the bedroom quietly, but the three children had already been awake for some time.
“Frieda, Frieda!” Leon cried as he jumped up and ran over to their elderly neighbor. “Do you have any treats?”
“Leon, you don’t ask that?—”
“Oh, we’re past that already, dear Hannah, aren’t we? No, my little angel, I don’t have any treats on me...” She looked at each of the three kids in turn and clapped her hands: “The surprise I have is much more amazing than that!”
Delighted, Emi sucked in her breath, and she and her little brother hopped around the living room. “What, Frieda? What is it?” she cried.
“I’ve conjured up a coach for us. It’s waiting down below so we can all ride together to the castle and hunt for the treasure that Prince Maximilian hid there for your mother!”
Hannah had naturally told them all about her adventure the day before, and in the process, she had also mentioned the little treasure chest that the prince had wanted to leave her as a thank you.
The children were skipping around the apartment. “Yippee! A real live treasure hunt! Let’s go!”
“I need my coffee first,” Hannah said—how she’d had missed it!—”and a decent breakfast. Then we can slowly get ready, and then?—”
“Then we ride to the castle?” Leon cried excitedly.
“Yes, then we ride to the castle.”
Even if Hannah couldn’t imagine it, she was hoping that Maximilian had actually hidden a small box for her somewhere, especially since she had left her bag with her smartphone and keys in the past and desperately needed replacements.
They left the apartment an hour later. Frieda was already waiting down on the street, ready to go in her hiking boots and cardigan. Behind her stood a beautiful coach, again in the shape of a pumpkin. Could it be the same one? It was white and was drawn by six white horses. The coachman on the box tipped his top hat and nodded to her. It was the same man who had steered the horses on the last ride.
How many days had it been since Hannah had stepped into that coach in her red dress, with no inkling of what lay before her? Four? She shook her head. And now she was standing here with her neighbor, an enchantress, and about to ride with her children to an ancient castle ruin where they planned to go hunt for treasure.
Emi immediately jumped into the coach while Leon was insisting on riding along on the coach box. “Please, please!” he whined.
“Isn’t that a little dangerous for a four-year-old?” his mother asked.
“I’ll sit with him,” Marco offered, “and I’ll hold onto him.” He helped him up onto the coach box while Hannah and Frieda joined Emi in the coach. And off they went, clattering down the street. With hardly a soul on the road, the air was filled with the clippity-clop of horses’ hooves.
